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If you come across any driverless Volvos towing trailers and caravans through the mountain passes of Death Valley in California, don't panic. It is simply Volvo testing and refining their towing capacity.Volvo developed a robot to automate the driving and minimize subjectivity. The device resembles…
Sony was the first to get a bipedal robot running, but then proceeded to drop out of the race. Other companies are now following in Sony’s footsteps. Robotis, for instance, just announced its running robot. Robotis RX is a little taller and little slower that the Sony Qrio. RX measures in at …
It looks like 2006 is gearing up to be the year of robot toys. The Associated Press say, "If children didn't get their fill of high-tech toys during the 2005 holiday season, they should brace themselves for more wizardry later this year." Apparently, the allure of iPods and Xboxes is caus…
Have you heard the one about the Volkswagen that drove itself, won the Darpa Grand Challenge, shone at the Detroit International Auto Show, and was awarded editor’s choice in Engadget’s Robot-of-the-Year contest? Of course we mean Stanley, built by Sebastian Thrun’s team at Stanf…
(Press Release, see also our First Look at Robot Magazine.)Robot Magazine is offering readers the opportunity to win a unique robot featured in the publication’s Winter 2005 premier issue.Editorial Board contributors Jamie Hyneman and Grant Imahara from the Discovery Channel’s popular …
In our original post on Pleo, Dave Thompson shared this link to the DEMO 2006 video. Thanks!In a word, it’s all about anthropomorphism. Let us start with the company’s name, which turns out to be pronounced "You Go Be". No remote required. Then there are the three laws,…
Previously I'd told all of you to go out, exercise your democratic right, and vote in Engadget's "Year's Best" elections. Well, whether you did or not (you better had ... ), the results are out! And the winner is, the Honda Asimo! The Engadget editors picked Stanford's VW Touareg "St…
Here's finally some video of Ugobe's Pleo robotic dinosaur. If you're not up to speed on Pleo, check out our previous post on the little guy. For about $200 he's supposed to have "life-like" motion with 14 motors and over 40 sensors. From the video, he does actually look pretty life-like.…
A robot created by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), with help from MIT, has taken 7,000 photographs of an ancient greek vessel that wrecked in 350BC. For over 2,300 years the vessel has remained hidden. The ship, which was laden with over 400 ceramic jars, was photographed by the &quo…
As a followup to our previous story about Ugobe, it appears that they've just announced what their breakthrough product is - Pleo the robotic dinosaur. The official press release says, Pleo is modeled after a 1-week-old Camarasaurus sauropod, or long neck dinosaur, and incorporates basic trai…
Caleb Chung, the creator of everyone's favorite obnoxious furry robot pal, Furby, is helping start a new company that claims to revolutionize the robot toy industry. The new company, dubbed "Ugobe", which sounds vaguely like an African nation, is creating a lifelike pal that will, ".…
Nothing phenominal here. Just a neat commercial from Nike showing robots wreaking havok in a city playing spots with cars and such. Funky music and cool graphics to ensue.This is similar to the music video, Scent of a Robot.
Don't like the thought of a shiney metal arm pounding on your flesh? Well, neither do I. However, a company called Meilus Muscular Therapy & Sports, Inc. thinks it's a good idea Their Therbo Robots are called, A "New Tool" to traditional techniques like massage, physical therapy …
The Grand Rapids Press has a review of the Scribbler robot. The inherent geek-cool factor is what attracted me to the Scribbler. But after an hour of testing, the benefits were obvious: Programming and using the Scribbler do indeed provide the stereotypical hours of fun for the whole family. T…
As Spirit continues to roam Mars ahead of the coming Martian winter, news comes in that the Nasa rovers are starring in an IMAX movie.The 40-minute film, "Roving Mars," is the story of the journey of the rovers Spirit and Opportunity -- as well as the journey of their creators.
The rumor mills are hard at work churning out speculation that Sony is going to kill it's robotics division. The fuel for this fire is an excerpt from Sony's Q305 fiscal reports that Akihabara News found. The text reads: New product development for AIBO has already ceased, and production is targe…
